News just in from RFC:-
The Bill Struth Stand will be officially announced ahead of the SPL clash
with Falkirk on Saturday, September 9 - just 15 days before the 50th
anniversary of his death.
Rangers officials have decided that it was the most fitting way to honour
the man who had such an influence over the club and shaped the club's
future for many generations to come.
Rangers great Sandy Jardine said: "Within the stadium the club has always
honoured many of its great players and managers.
"Probably the greatest manager of them all and the person who did the most
for the club is Bill Struth.
"Apart from being an astonishingly successful manager, he also laid down
the standards and set the tradition for the club. These are still followed
to this day.
"He was very influential on those who played for him and I think that was
proven when subsequent managers Scot Symon and Willie Waddell continued to
lead the club in similar fashion.
"The club felt that given that the 50th anniversary of his death will occur
during this season, it was a good time to create a lasting and fitting
tribute to him."
He was manager for a remarkable 34 years - from 1920 to 1954 - during which
Rangers enjoyed phenomenal success
Struth laid down the foundations for greatness. He installed the traditions
and made it "special" to be a Rangers player.
Struth, born in Edinburgh, had been a stonemason by trade and was also a
professional athlete. He had worked as a trainer at Clyde and at Hearts
before coming to Rangers in 1914 as assistant to William Wilton.
His appointment as Rangers' second manager came, however, in tragic
circumstances when Wilton sadly drowned in a boating accident in 1920.
But in taking on the mantle Struth, by then 45, embarked on a period of
unprecedented success in which Rangers would dominate Scottish football
until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
Struth's record of achievements was extraordinary. He won the League
Championship 18 times, including a dazzling spell of 14 in 19 years before
the war. Those titles included a run of Five-In-A-Row between 1926-27 and
1930-31, a standard unsurpassed at the club until the 1990s.
Not only was he to bring the first Cup and League Double to the club in
1927-28, he was still at the helm when they completed the first Cup, League
and League Cup Treble in 1948-49.
The line of great players under his guidance seemed endless - stretching
from David Meiklejohn and Alan Morton, through Bob McPhail and Willie
Thornton to, among others, Jock Shaw, George Young and Willie Woodburn.
And none of them was in any doubt as to who the boss was. Struth was a
strict disciplinarian, a man who believed firmly in respect for authority.
There were privileges for the players. Struth insisted that his teams
always travelled first class. But in turn they had to accept their
responsibilites. These included wearing a collar and tie for training and
maintaining standards of dress and behaviour at all times.
Any player who fell short of what Struth expected felt the chill of being
told that his presence was required up the marble staircase in the
manager's office.
Part of the Struth legend has it that the manager would watch from the
window of his flat overlooking the Copland Road as the players arrived at
Ibrox. Anyone who had dared to walk down the street with his hands in his
pockets would find that Struth had seen him and telephoned the ground to
insist that he walk down the street again, this time with his hands by his
sides.
Another of Struth's habits was to play the piano, which still stands in the
Blue Room, after every match to unwind. He was also a sharp dresser and
kept up to half a dozen double-breasted suits in his office, sometimes
changing what he was wearing three times a day.
Struth became a director of the club in 1947 and was appointed
vice-chairman on his retirement as manager in the Summer of 1954. He died
two years later aged 81 and was laid to rest at nearby Craigton Cemetery.
Last year Rangers a special bust of the great men, which is housed on the
first landing of the marble staircase in the main foyer at Ibrox.